The first thing that you have to remember is that anyone can be scammed. We want to trust people; we want to think that we found something easy and still lucrative, most of all we believe that we are way too smart to fall for some scammer. So how do they work?

They Prey On The Desperate

The people who fall for these scams the most are the ones who need money the most. These are the people who are in debt, about to lose their homes or struggling to put food on the table, and they need cash quick. They take their last, little bit of money to “invest in a foolproof system that will make them THOUSAND’S of dollar’s a week” and then that money is gone. They never see it again, and their situation gets that much worse.

They Use Numbers In Their Favor

How many spam emails do you get a day? If you have ever filled out a form on a questionable website, or any website these days, you may have noticed that you get a lot of spam. There is a reason that scammers still send out spam mail, and that is because it works! They may send out a million emails a day and only get about 20 people who fall for their scam, but those 20 people make it worthwhile.

The same goes for work at home scam sites. There are so many individuals who want to work at home, and most of them have no idea what to look out for. There are millions of these work at home scams, with their brightly colored splash pages, promises of huge weekly payouts, and e-books galore. It is bright, confusing, and everything is too good to be true. People read these websites that make a lot of promises, and they hand over their cash, not even know what they are doing for work. No pyramid scheme is going to say that they are a pyramid scheme, they will use fancy words to confuse you into thinking that it’s legit. MLM scams are the worst because not only are you being tricked out of your money, but you end up conning your friends out of their money too, and in the end, everyone ends up with nothing except empty pockets.

Remember: You don’t pay someone else for the privilege of working for them! Also, if you don’t know what you are doing to earn money or if your “job” consists of “recruiting” people to join your “downline,” you are being scammed!

They Won’t Take No As An Answer

I’m sure everyone has been on one of those websites where you are reading about a work at home opportunity; you decide that this isn’t for you, so you try and leave the site. Then you get a bunch of pop-ups saying

“DON’T LEAVE! YOU WILL REGRET IT! ORDER THIS E-BOOK NOW AND EARN MILLIONS! 50% OFF IF YOU ORDER NOW!!”

Isn’t that an enormous red flag? Why do they bother doing that, it should send people running, right? It is a proven method that works! The reason why is because, while we may think we are smart, our brains trick us into doing dumb things. People want to believe they are getting a good deal and if the good deal is there for a “limited time” our brains tell us we need to get this and get it now! These scammers are hoping that you will impulse buy their product. They don’t care if you hate it, they don’t care if you leave a million bad reviews and report their site everywhere. That’s because

There will always be someone who will buy before researching

They will just re-brand when word gets out that they are scammers and

No matter how much you complain, they aren’t going to refund your money. They have your sale, and that’s all they want.

Techniques like this are just like the email spam. It’s all about the numbers, and their website may get thousands of people who say no but those few individuals who order make it worthwhile.

They Have A Ton Of Fake Reviews

Most people today research everything. Google is right at your fingertips, so it’s easy to look up a company or website. People also love to spread the word when they have a bad experience so finding out about an evil company is pretty easy. Scammers know reviews matter, they also know that they aren’t going to get good reviews, so they create their own.

Anytime you see a questionable website get fantastic reviews with pictures of the reviewer’s PayPal account, checks, and bank statements it’s a pretty sure bet that these are fake reviews or testimonials. If the company themselves don’t just create them, they are paid reviews. I have seen some legit work at home review websites give good reviews to bad businesses, and you can tell when that happens, most of the time the review will have a little “sponsored by…” disclaimer. You can’t always trust these reviews, even if you can trust the website.

People trust reviews so even if they are obviously fake or have a sponsored disclaimer, many people out there will still try it out if they see others talk about how great the job is.

It’s Easy To Get People To Give Out Their Information

This one is scary! Some work at home scams aren’t all about just getting your money. Many want your identity. Humans are naturally trusting, and when you are desperate for employment, it’s pretty easy to trust the wrong people.

You find a job that looks like an excellent opportunity; they aren’t asking for cash up front, they give a vague description of the job, then they ask you to email them your information for tax purposes. You are so excited about the job that you email them back all of your personal information without a second thought. They now have everything they need to steal your identity.

It can be hard to decipher a legit request for information and an identity thief phishing for your identity. I have given up on some potentially legitimate jobs because I got a bad feeling about giving them information or scanning my driver’s license (a common practice for both legit and scam work at home so be careful.) Sometimes you just have to go with your gut, if it doesn’t feel right or if it’s just too good to be true, then pass on it. It’s always better to be safe than sorry. Also, never just write out all of your personal information in an email. A legit company will use some sort of secure system to have you fill out the required forms.

Work at home scammers know what works. Spam, cheap splash pages, websites, e-books, and pop-ups work. Don’t be one of those hundreds of thousands of people a year who has their money, their identity, or both stolen from them.

If you are the victim of a scam or if you aren’t sure about a company/job ad. Send me an email or message on chat and I will help you out.

It’s getting to be that time of year when people are looking for extra cash for the holidays so the scams will be even more abundant. I have helped out a lot many people so far this year report scams and save them from being a victim. I can help you too!

Leave a comment below if you have anything else to add to this list!

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Amanda

I am the owner and operator of wahtips.com! I have been working at home for over 10 years. Wahtips began with me sending emails to friends and people I met through social media explaining how to work at home along with links to legitimate companies. I have a 3 yr old son, a wonderful husband and a Shih Tzu puppy named Rosie.

7 thoughts on “Why People Still Fall for Work at Home Scams”

I just remembered one scam I fell for over 20 years ago. I was fresh out of high school and I wanted to try to get on working as a postal worker. This scam company charged me $69 for a book that told me to call my local post office and ask about the test that must be taken to get a job there. I could’ve easily done that without paying $69, but they lead me to believe I was gauranteed to get a job.

Unfortunately these scam artists get craftier and craftier by the minute. A good way to sniff out a scam, though, is to check for typos, one or two is no big deal, but if an ad/ offer is riddled with typos, that’s a gigantic red flag. Another method to avoid being completely scammed is, when prompted to add a picture of a ID or credit card, block everything but the necessary info (usually name, birthdate, and picture are all you need)

Sometimes it is really hard to not fall victim to these scams. They make it all sound so promising. I know there have been a few times that I’ve almost fallen for one of these because it just seemed like the perfect opportunity. I really liked your advice, Amanda; if it doesn’t feel right, then don’t go for it.

There will always be people who try to scam others and people who get scammed. People are just too trusting. I’ve gotten so many scam emails and some I can’t imagine anyone believing. Maybe they are desperate for money but you’d think they would check and recheck what they are getting into.

I think another reason people always fall for WAH job scams is that they are made to believe they can earn big money for very little work. I mean think about it, we have all been interested in a something for nothing deal at one time in our lives. These scammers make people believe that they can earn big bucks doing something as easy as stuffing envelopes when that simply is not true. Working from home is the same as working outside the home, you have to work to earn your paycheck.